Bio

Jay Rosenstein graduated from Georgetown University in Washington in 1977 and got his start in professional journalism that same year as a reporter for the daily financial newspaper American Banker, where he covered Congress, federal regulators, and the White House for 12 years. Jay also was known for writing unusual articles for the banking newspaper, like his brief history of crazy patent applications, one being a trap patented in 1884 that would put a spike through the hand or arm of a burglar reaching through the teller window.

For 31 years, Jay was a senior writer/editor for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), a federal government agency. His accomplishments included conceiving and writing a free financial newsletter for consumers for 25 years, with numerous mentions by media organizations such as Parade magazine, USA Today, and The Washington Post. For more than 20 years, Jay wrote a fun, heartwarming column about the work and history of the FDIC for the agency’s newsletter for employees and retirees. Topics included unusual assets acquired by the FDIC as a result of bank failures, such as when the FDIC temporarily owned a share of the Dallas Cowboys and a house built in 1784 in Salem, Massachusetts, that was rumored to be haunted. Jay retired from the FDIC in 2020 to pursue his interest in writing books for both adults and children.  

Jay is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.